Varėna
Varėna | |
|---|---|
City | |
 Town clock | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
  Varėna Location of Varėna | |
| Coordinates: 54°12′40″N 24°34′20″E / 54.21111°N 24.57222°E | |
| Country |  Lithuania |
| Ethnographic region | Dzūkija |
| County |  Alytus County |
| Municipality | Varėna district municipality |
| Capital of | Varėna district municipality Varėna eldership |
| First mentioned | 1377 |
| Granted town rights | 1946 |
| Area | |
• Total | 12 km2 (5 sq mi) |
| Population (2024[1]) | |
• Total | 7,794 |
| • Density | 650/km2 (1,700/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Varėna (ⓘ) is a city in Dzūkija, southern Lithuania.[2] It is the capital of the district of Varėna.[2] Currently, there are 7,794 residents. The Varėna district is the largest and most forested municipality of Lithuania as more than 50% of the district's territory is covered with forests.[3]
Etymology
[edit]The name of the town comes from an old village - Senoji Varėna (at the time called simply Varėna), while the new, present Varėna was being established nearby. The place name itself comes from the name of the Varėnė River.[4] In other languages, the town is referred to as: Polish: Orany;[5] German: Warnen; Yiddish: אוראַן Oran.
History
[edit]
Varėna was founded in 1862 as a railway town of the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway, 4 km (2.5 mi) south of Sena Varėna (Old Varėna). The exact date of the town's foundation is considered to be 5 September 1862 according to the Julian calendar, or 17 September according to the current Gregorian calendar: that's when the first train arrived at the Varėna station. At that time, it was a small settlement, but following steady development, it eventually became the center of the district.[6] In the interwar period, after World War I, the town was in a territorial dispute between Lithuania and Poland.[7] Following Zeligowski Mutiny, together with the Vilnius Region it was annexed by Poland under its Polish name Orany. It was located near the then Polish-Lithuanian border and incorporated into the Wilno and Troki County of the Wilno Voivodeship. The Lithuanian-majority residents of the town persistently opposed the Polish authorities, particularly in regard to the ban on church services in Lithuanian.[6][7]
In 1939, following the German-Soviet Invasion of Poland, Varėna was briefly handed over to Lithuania, but soon, from 1940, it was occupied by the Soviet Union, and from 1941 it was occupied by Nazi Germany. In 1941, the Germans operated the Dulag 112 prisoner-of-war camp in the town, before its relocation to Mołodeczno.[8] On September 9, 1942, all the Jews of the town of Varėna were collected in the local synagogue. On that day, even though the Germans had tried to prevent him from doing so, the Lithuanian priest Jonas Gylys entered the synagogue and encouraged the Jews to be brave in their last hours rather than convert to Christianity.
On the following day (or, according to another source, on the 9th itself) all of the Jews were taken from the synagogue to Ežeriekai - a grove of trees near the village of Druckūnai, 1.5 kilometres (0.9 miles) from the town, on the side of the road leading to the village. Two large pits had been dug there 25 metres (82 feet) apart, one for the men and one for the women. Germans forced the victims in groups toward the pits and shot them there.
According to the report of Karl Jaeger, commander of Einsatzkommando 3A, 831 Jews from Varėna (and the surrounding areas) – 541 men, 149 women, and 141 children – were killed on that day.[9]
In 1944, the town was re-occupied by the Soviet Union, eventually annexed from Poland in 1945 and reinstated to Lithuania. The town became a center of Varėna County (Varėnos apskritis). In 1946 around 2,000 Poles were repatriated to Poland.[10]
In the aftermath of World War II, Lithuanian partisans of the Dainava military district were operating in the area. In 1946, Varėna was granted city rights. Following industrialization in the 1970s, the town grew rapidly. In 1995, the coat of arms of Varėna was formally adopted through a decree from the President of Lithuania.[7]
Climate
[edit]| Climate data for Varėna (1991–2020 normals) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −0.9 (30.4) |
0.4 (32.7) |
5.5 (41.9) |
13.5 (56.3) |
19.3 (66.7) |
22.6 (72.7) |
24.6 (76.3) |
23.9 (75.0) |
18.3 (64.9) |
11.1 (52.0) |
4.7 (40.5) |
0.5 (32.9) |
12.0 (53.5) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −3.4 (25.9) |
−2.7 (27.1) |
0.9 (33.6) |
7.3 (45.1) |
12.7 (54.9) |
16.3 (61.3) |
18.4 (65.1) |
17.4 (63.3) |
12.3 (54.1) |
6.9 (44.4) |
2.3 (36.1) |
−1.7 (28.9) |
7.2 (45.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −6.1 (21.0) |
−5.7 (21.7) |
−3.3 (26.1) |
1.2 (34.2) |
5.8 (42.4) |
9.8 (49.6) |
12.3 (54.1) |
11.1 (52.0) |
7.1 (44.8) |
3.1 (37.6) |
0.0 (32.0) |
−4.0 (24.8) |
2.6 (36.7) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 51 (2.0) |
43 (1.7) |
41 (1.6) |
42 (1.7) |
61 (2.4) |
65 (2.6) |
88 (3.5) |
80 (3.1) |
54 (2.1) |
59 (2.3) |
49 (1.9) |
54 (2.1) |
687 (27) |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 87 | 84 | 78 | 70 | 70 | 72 | 75 | 76 | 81 | 84 | 88 | 89 | 79 |
| Source: Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service[11] | |||||||||||||
Twin towns — Sister cities
[edit]
Varėna is twinned with:
References
[edit]- ^ "Resident population on 1 July". osp.stat.gov.lt. 2024-07-19.
- ^ a b "Varėna". Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 6 June 2025.
- ^ "Varėnos seniūnija". Varėnos rajono savivaldybė (in Lithuanian).
- ^ Šimkus, Šarūnas (2023). Varėnos krašto vietovardžių etimologinis žodynas. Vilnius: L. Leščinskas. p. 62. ISBN 978-609-8322-09-5.
- ^ Zych, Maciej; Kacprzak, Justyna, eds. (2019). Urzędowy wykaz polskich nazw geograficznych świata [Official List of Polish Geographical Names of the World] (in Polish) (2nd ed.). Warsaw: Główny Urząd Geodezji i Kartografii. p. 165. ISBN 978-83-254-2578-4.
- ^ a b Cibulskienė, Laimutė. "Varėnos miestas". dainavoskrastas.lt. Public Library of Alytus District Municipality. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
- ^ a b c "Varėna". vle.lt. Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Centre. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
- ^ Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rüdiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-253-06089-1.
- ^ "The Untold Stories. The Murder Sites of the Jews in the Occupied Territories of the Former USSR".
- ^ "Stanisław Ciesielski, Aleksander Srebrakowski". Archived from the original on 2002-10-17. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
- ^ "Klimato duomenys 1991-2020". Lietuvos hidrometeorologijos tarnyba (in Lithuanian).
External links
[edit]
- The murder of the Jews of Varėna during World War II, at Yad Vashem website.
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